But after Gawker raised more than $200,000 in an online campaign to buy the video, it said it was told by its unnamed source that the video was "gone".

Last Thursday, Toronto police chief Bill Blair said technicians had salvaged the deleted video and other data from a hard drive seized in an extortion investigation surrounding Mr Ford's long-time friend, Sandro Lisi.

Mr Ford has since apologised for "mistakes" but had, until his confession, denied the drug allegations and had always vowed to run for re-election next year.

At the weekend, Mr Ford apologised for other indiscretions, such as public drunkenness, as well as homophobic and racist comments.

He and his lawyer have called on police to release the video, but Mr Blair declined, saying it was evidence in a criminal case now before the courts.

"I'm not going to respond to any personal attacks. We're going to continue to do our job," Mr Blair added

Police have not revealed details of the mobile phone clip, but say it is consistent with previous descriptions from media organisations that had viewed it.

They have also not charged Mr Ford with any offence.

Police have said they expect the video will be made public when Mr Lisi goes to trial.

Mayor's brother demands police chief step aside

Mr Ford's brother has demanded Mr Blair step aside over his handling of the video, calling him "the most political police chief I've ever seen."

Doug Ford, who is also a Toronto city councillor, told local radio that Mr Blair "needs to step down" temporarily.

"In my opinion, with the chief's comments the other day, we have the most political police chief I've ever seen. The police chief believes he's the judge, the jury and the executioner," he later told a televised press conference

"It's unacceptable, his comments," he said. "He's definitely stepped over the line."

"The chief shouldn't have come out and made the comments while he was wearing the police chief's uniform, about his personal opinions about the mayor."

He was referring to a comment Mr Blair made, where he said he was "disappointed" in the mayor.